The present invention is an attachment means for an incontinent garment or diaper by which it can be readily and conveniently secured about a wearer. In particular, the attachment means uses a convenient single adhesive tab which directs tension around both the leg and waist areas to prevent leakage.
Adhesive attachment tabs for disposable diapers have been in use for almost two decades. They normally consist of a pair of pressure sensitive adhesive tabs, one on either side of the rear panel of the diaper. These are secured to the waist encircling portion to securely hold the diaper when it is in place on a wearer. Many improvements have been made in adhesive attachment tabs since they were first introduced.
More recently, disposable diapers or similar garments for incontinent adults have become available. Because of major differences in anatomy and body proportions, these are not simply scaled up version of disposable diapers intended for infants. The normal angle of the legs with regard to the torso is quite different in an adult than in a baby. In addition, a significantly longer abdominal portion is required in an adult garment. Various forms of elastic attachment means are also commonly used. These range from single straps, such as are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,670,012 to Johnson, to double straps, such as are shown in European Patent Application 0,120,790. However, the incontinent garments shown in these two patents are not typical of those which presently have the most widespread acceptance. The most popular incontinent garments today have wing-like waist and abdominal encircling portions at each end. These are usually about 160-200 mm in the longitudinal dimension so that they completely cover the buttocks and abdomen of the wearer. In an incontinent garment of this type two pairs adhesive attachment tabs have been desirable. One pair is located on opposite sides at the extreme end of the rear panel of the garment and serves to provide tight securement about the waist of the wearer. The other pair is at the bottom of the wing-like portion, where it serves to provide leak resistant securement about the leg of the wearer. Thus, in a garment of this type there are four adhesive tabs to properly adjust as opposed to only two in a baby diaper.
Very often when an incontinent garment is placed on an adult, it is necessary to readjust the original placement of the tapes in order to achieve a tight and comfortable fit. This last task has been made simpler by the use of a target tape area on the abdominal portion of the diaper. The attachment tapes may be peeled from this target tape area without tearing the moisture impermeable backing film and then repositioned. However, it would be desirable from a number of standpoints if a single attachment tape could be made to serve the function of the two tapes presently used. This feature of convenience has been repeatedly requested by nurse's aides who must place the incontinent garment on bedridden patients.
Elasticized attachment tapes have been proposed in order to assure better fit when placing a diaper or incontinent garment on a person, although these have not yet found widespread usage. Examples are found in the following three closely-related U.S. patents to Schaar: Nos. 4,074,716; 4,090,516; and 4,209,016. These patents show elasticized fasteners in various configurations which include double tapes or tapes with split Y-shaped end portions. Other elastic fastener tapes are found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,800,796 to Jacob; 4,237,890 to Laplanche; 4,389,212 to Tritsch; and in European Patent Application 0,191,355; and in West German Applications 3,419,621 and 3,419,623. These patents to which reference has just been made are illustrative only and the list is not considered to be fully inclusive.
The present invention has overcome many of the problems associated with the use of double attachment tapes and, in particular, those problems which were present with their use on adult incontinent products.